Indonesia, Inspiration: Ubud II
In this segment of our Bali series, we’re taking another look at Ubud through the eyes of our creative director Lindy, who spent a month wandering the ins and outs of this beautiful Indonesian island.
Where restaurants are concerned, Lindy swears Locavore is the way to go. She loved their rustically sophisticated menu and declares it the most outstanding dinner she had in Ubud. It’s an up-and-coming Ubud eatery serving dishes comprised of entirely locally sourced items; even the dinnerware and glasses are made right on the island.
Headed by chefs trained in Amsterdam and New Zealand, Locavore specializes in seafood dishes inspired by Indonesian fare, and is one of the only fine dining locations in the area to transform local cuisine into something special rather than imitate that of more “established” backgrounds.
For the duration of her time in Ubud, Lindy stayed at Made Wijaya’s “rockstar villas” at Taman Bebek, referred to as such because the celebrated landscape artist’s cottages here are often visited by figures like Mick Jagger and Francis Ford Coppola on their Balinese sojourns. Open to the outdoors and overlooking the mountains, it wasn’t hard for her to see why Taman Bebek is so highly sought after. Aside from the occasional iguana that found its way into her room, her stay was as peaceful as anything.
Nobody should get too comfortable in their villa, though; a sunrise hike is the best way to see Ubud at its most breathtakingly beautiful. Being awoken at three o’clock in the morning might sound like the beginning of the worst day ever, but Lindy guarantees it’s more than worth it. Led by a group of trekking experts, she started the ascent up the active volcano Mt. Batur in almost total darkness before arriving at the summit to experience a sunrise like no other. If that’s not incentive enough to be out at such an early — or is it late? — hour, the hike culminates with a breakfast cooked right inside the volcano itself.
Lindy’s a yoga aficionado, so she affirms that a class in this calming practice is probably in order after such an exhilarating morning. There’s no better place than Radiantly Alive, a world-famous, holistically-oriented studio that she enjoyed visiting because it offers classes in over five types of yoga, as well as acupuncture and hydrotherapy. The studio embodies the resplendent, organic nature of Ubud, so in other words, it can’t be missed.
Next week, we’re trading in Ubud for the locales of Sanur, Uluwatu, and Seminyak, where Lindy spent time learning the art of coffee roasting, enjoying the nightlife, and, of course, savoring more local food.
- Liz Silvia